Mental Health Awareness and Support

17 July in Cardiff

What is a mental health issue? Why does it affect so many people and how can we make a difference to sufferers?

This one day course aims to give a broad understanding of a range of mental health issues, of how to recognise them and most importantly how to respond effectively. It looks at factors that cause poor mental health, how to respond to emergency situations like suicide risk and approaches to promoting good mental health. It will also cover key aspects of relevant legislation including The Mental Health Act 1983, Mental Capacity Act 2005 and other legislation

This course is aimed at staff and managers working with people with learning disabilities. However, anyone wanting to know more about mental health can learn from it, apply it to those around them and help improve their own health and well-being.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me on 02920681174.

Free Write

Meeting once a month, with no fixed agenda, FREE WRITE brings together poets, storytellers,spoken word performers, novelists, comedians, creators of words in whatever form, meet up to connect, chat, share experiences, successes, cautionary tales relating in any way to writing, the process, the results, the joys, the pain, the paths and the pitfalls of the word based life. And also write if the muse strikes!

June 30 2017 meeting 10am to 1pm at The Cwtch, Chapter Arts Centre

No two Free Write sessions are the same, you may use the session to focus on getting some words down by yourself, or join the discussion, maybe a prompt will arise during the event and those who wish may try and create something on the spot. Work may be read out to willing listeners, you may learn of open mic or other occasions to try out your work publicly, something about writing generally or about your work particularly might be causing you grief and maybe someone will offer you a new perspective, deliberately, or even accidentally, via the flow of social intercourse.

As with all things creative, the trick is getting the flow started, however that happens and flowing to wherever the flow goes.

Free Write was created by Mab Jones and is hosted in Cardiff by Will Ford

Mab recently created Free Write: Valleys Edition, which has met several times in Pontypridd. To keep up to date with upcoming FREE WRITE meetings in Cardiff and Pontypridd why not join the FREE WRITE FACEBOOK GROUP

Relaxed Concert

Sunday 2nd July 2017

St.David’s Hall, Cardiff

Popular orchestral classics and music from TV and film – perfect for all the family. Suitable for those with autism, learning disabilities, along with individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind and partially sighted.

Nova aims to support and promote excellence in emerging Welsh art through offering artists under the ages of 35 the chance to have their work seen by a panel of high profile selectors, alongside being selected to exhibit their work, at the RCA, Conwy, as part of the inaugural Nova exhibition in November 2017. Alongside inclusion as part of the Nova exhibition, there are a range of prizes and bursaries for exhibitors to win.

Supporting Adults with Down’s Syndrome in Social Care settings

21 September in Cardiff

The techniques you will learn during this workshop will help you and the person you care to engage and communicate together, relieve stress and feel more positive.

This one day workshop will help those that care for someone with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or a learning disability to use touch to help communication, relaxation and the relief of stress and anxiety.

This session will provide tools that carers and parents can use in everyday situations.

Mind Young Person’s Services on Anglesey

Here is some information on services for young people (14-18) that we will be running over the summer in Anglesey. Brief details for each service are given below; if you are aware of young people that may be interested and could benefit from any of these, please do get in touch.

We have set the dates for the next Anxiety Management course to run on Wednesdays from 10am-12pm, starting on July 26th and ending on August 30th. This course will be held in Amlwch (there are also courses running in Bangor and there will be more courses to follow at other locations on the island).

The next Young People’s Mindfulness course will also be in Amlwch on the same dates as above but will run in the afternoon, from 1pm-3pm.

Ynys Môn and Gwynedd Mind currently provide the following mental health and wellbeing support services for young people aged between 14 and 18. They are all free to attend and are held at various community locations across the island. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you are interested or would like more information:

Anxiety Management course

Our Anxiety Management course for young people uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to understand what anxiety is and learn a variety of practical skills to help with managing anxiety. It normally runs for 5 weeks with each session lasting 2 hours.

Mindfulness course

This is a mindfulness course specifically designed for young people to be fun and engaging. The course aims to develop mindfulness as a useful life-skill that can help young people to:

feel happier, calmer and more fulfilled

get on better with others

concentrate and learn better

cope with stress and anxiety

‘Time to Talk’: One-to-one support

Monthly appointments are available in Bangor, Holyhead and Llangefni that give young people an opportunity to:

Talk about mental health

Get things off your chest

Get Information

Learn how to cope

If you or anyone you know would benefit from any of these services, or if you have any questions, please contact:

On Tuesday 4th July Making your website work for you. This is the session that many of you requested, for those that already have a website or sell through a market place, and want a hands on (in a computer room) session where you will be looking at content to ensure your website engages your audience and that it is clearly navigable. https://websitegwefan.eventbrite.co.uk

Rhyl College, Cefndy Road, Rhyl, LL18 2HG

If you do not have a website but would be interested in attending a workshop on ‘How to set up a website and other online market places’, please contact katie@helfagelf.co.uk

Finally the last session is on Saturday 15th July, Writing an Artist’s statement. Please note you either book for a morning OR afternoon session. Getting your statement right is invaluable for all your communication and publicity – for exhibitions, on your website, social media and being able to have a confident conversation when someone asks you “what type of art do you do?”. https://websitegwefan.eventbrite.co.uk

Rhyl College, Cefndy Road, Rhyl, LL18 2HG

Booking is essential.

A couple of diary markers for you of sessions with our partners:

Friday 15th September, Llandudno, as part of the Llawn Arts Festival. Changing a space. This session is about redesigning a space using drawing/painting and OHP projectors & digital technology. Participants will use their creative skills in a new way experimenting with light, stencils and live drawing. The facilitator will also cover the implications of artists working in a public space in a venue that traditionally isn’t associated with art.

Thursday 21st September, Denbigh Town Hall, Unlocking Potential. With Engage Cymru & Denbighshire Arts Service, how to work with young re-offenders. Also sharing outcomes of prison projects, and bring in other examples of exceptional practice in this area to inspire artists and organisations. http://www.engage.org/event.aspx?id=1749